Configure Default Search Operator and Special Character Search in Relevancy

Relevancy tab offers two settings: To define the default search operator and to turn on or turn off special character search.

Search Operator

  1. In Search Clients, open a search client for editing.

  2. Jump to the Relevancy tab.

  3. From the first dropdown, Search Operator, select OR or AND. When OR is selected, a query "search clients" is interpreted as "search OR clients." Documents that are returned contain either search or client or both. When AND is selected, a query "search clients" is interpreted as "search AND clients." Only the documents containing both "search" and "client" returned.

  4. Save your settings.

Special Characters Search

When used with an # in queries such as # search + client, + acts an advanced search operator. The complete list of such operators can be found on Use Advanced Search. The exclusive use of + as an operator creates a problem. What if your users want to find documents on, let's say, C++? To cater to such users, you can turn on Special Characters Search.

  1. In Search Clients, open a search client for editing.

  2. Jump to the Relevancy tab.

  3. Toggle on Special Character Search.

  4. Save your settings.

When Special Character Search is on, end users can look up the following characters searchable.

Searchable Character
1 Ampersand (&)
2 At Sign (@)
3 Greater Than (>)
4 Less Than (<)
5 Dollar ($)
6 Percentage (%)
7 Caret (^)
8 Equals (=)
9 Colon (:)
10 Full stop(.)
11 Forward slash (/)
12 Hyphen (-)
13 Plus (+)
14 Asterisk (*)

Any of these characters can be searched outside advanced search queries; 5 > 2 works but # 5 > 2 and # 5 > 2 OR 3 don't. There is an exception to the rule. Special characters can work inside advanced search when they are enclosed in quotes. So, # "5 > 2" works.

Last updatedWednesday, September 20, 2023

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